Will there be many fighter piilot slots by the time I graduate?

[mrfranevil]

I'm currently a senior in high schoool and I graduate in june. I plan on doing communitiy college for a year and then transferring to the Embry-Ryddle Aeronatical University in Daytona. I will probably apply for an NROTC scholarship but I don't know if its my best option. I heard that if you do NROTC you only get one chance at an aviation slot and if not you get stuck doing something else. Naval Aviation being my dream, I want to make sure that I don't lose my chance at being a fighter pilot due to low needs by the Navy. So ill probably graduate around 2015 which is when the F-35's should be in full production so I would assume that they would have a high need for fighter pilots.



So what's the best thing I should do? Should I go another way? If you could clue me in on the process of getting a pilot slot and then becoming a fighter that'd be greatly appreciated. I've been looking for information online but its hard to find solid information. Thank you in advance.

 

[twobecrazy]

I'm currently a senior in high schoool and I graduate in june. I plan on doing communitiy college for a year and then transferring to the Embry-Ryddle Aeronatical University in Daytona. I will probably apply for an NROTC scholarship but I don't know if its my best option. I heard that if you do NROTC you only get one chance at an aviation slot and if not you get stuck doing something else. Naval Aviation being my dream, I want to make sure that I don't lose my chance at being a fighter pilot due to low needs by the Navy. So ill probably graduate around 2015 which is when the F-35's should be in full production so I would assume that they would have a high need for fighter pilots.



So what's the best thing I should do? Should I go another way? If you could clue me in on the process of getting a pilot slot and then becoming a fighter that'd be greatly appreciated. I've been looking for information online but its hard to find solid information. Thank you in advance.

You should search around this forum, google, or another forum (www.usnavyocs.com) . If you still have questions after searching then by all means ask. As it stands right now it would benefit you GREATLY by searching then asking questions for answers you can't find. Maybe you should look into these threads first:

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/47-Questions-about-becoming-a-Navy-Officer
http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/38-Paths-to-a-Commission
http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/39-NROTC
http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/40-Navy-OCS

Good Luck!

TBC

 

[wink]

True, there is no guarantee of flight from NROTC. BUT, OCS is essentially a fill in mechanism after USNA and NROTC selects. NROTC and USNA numbers don't vary much over the years, although NROTC just went down by something like 30%. With the Navy getting smaller a larger percentage of manning will be filled by NROTC and USNA. That means far fewer slots available through OCS. In the coming years, it will become harder and harder to get an OCS guaranteed designator, whether aviation or not. You had better think real hard about passing on a NROTC option hoping there will be a for sure flying job 4 years down the road. If there isn't, will have wished you went NROTC and had a fair shot at it during service selections your senior year.